Representations of the Witch in Nineteenth

330 Pages·2013·13.56 MB·English

Bedlam and Broomsticks:
Representations of the Witch in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Women’s Writing
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
by
Sarah Bruton
October 2006
School of English, Communication and Philosophy
Cardiff University
UMI Number: U584115
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Declaration
This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not
being currently submitted in candidature for any degree.
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Date _____
Statement 1
This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated.
Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A
bibliography is appended.
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ii
Abstract
This thesis is about representations of witches in texts by women writers, and how
they develop over time. It begins with texts produced in the second half of the
nineteenth century, when witchcraft was re-defined as hysteria, to the present,
demonstrating the continuing and shifting significance of the witch in women’s
writing. Women writers of every era and political stance, in texts of almost every
genre, replicate, revise and repeat images of the witch, suggesting a unique bond
between the two. The issues that witches interpellate and this thesis interrogate -
maternity, marriage, lesbianism, matriarchy and madness - belong primarily to female
experience, as does the threat of sexual subversion implicit in the witch’s crimes and
the punishments imposed on her historically.
This thesis begins by investigating witches as marginal figures in the texts of Mary
Coleridge, Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Gaskell, produced at a time when women
were similarly subjugated. The witch’s connection to political emancipation forms the
basis of discussion of interwar writing; Margaret Murray, Edna St. Vincent Millay and
Sylvia Townsend Warner focus on the witch as socially and sexually deviant. This is
continued in my analysis of Dorothy B. Hughes, Enid Blyton and Sylvia Plath, all of
whom appropriate motifs of witch-trials and associated violence against women.
Second wave feminism sought to overturn such images, but they remain central,
however, in the work of poets such as Plath, Olga Broumas and Anne Sexton, and
popular novelists such as Marion Zimmer Bradley, who re-figure fairy-tale witches to
form part of a feminist dialectic. My final chapter discusses popular cultural images of
the witch; Bvffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch limit the
multiplicitious potential of the witch to conventional stereotypes of femininity.
However, when women write the witch, something subversive always leaks out. J. K.
Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and the character of Professor Umbridge initiate a
grotesque fantasy that, whilst only utopian, provides radical potential for female
rebellion and release.
Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure to thank the various people whose intellectual and emotional support
made this thesis possible. Dr Faye Hammill’s massive commitment to the success of
this project cannot be underestimated. In addition to thinking through so many ideas,
suffering copious drafts and providing engaged readings and incisive comments, I am
eternally grateful for her continual friendship, understanding and enthusiasm.
Professor Stephen Knight has also been constantly on hand with advice,
encouragement and endless readiness to discuss issues. For books, references and
detailed commentary, I am indebted to Judith Pryor and Garthine Walker and Rhonda
Wilcox.
My academic education and experience has been shaped entirely by the staff and
students of Cardiff University’s English Literature department. Only recently have I
come to appreciate fully the network of support created by Martin Coyle and John
Peck. I cannot underestimate their enduring influence on my research and teaching.
Thanks must, then, go also to my fantastic students, past and present, who have
constantly challenged my ideas about literature and reminded me about the importance
of good writing.
But this project was never only about academic investigation. Rather, it was about a
passion for stories and a belief in the magic of fairy tales. For that, as for the Diet
Coke and chocolate, for the unstinting support and for reassuring me on the dark days,
I can only thank my family. I could not have written this thesis without my parents,
Anne and Martin, my grandmother, Phyllis and my brother, James.
Contents
Declaration p.u
Abstract p. iii
Acknowledgements p. iv
Illustrations p.v
Introduction: In the Beginning, There was Magic... p.l
What is a Witch? p.l
Historical and Literary Representations p. 5
Women Writing Witches p. 12
Structure of Thesis p. 16
Chapter 1: Writing a Language of Subversion: Witches on the
Margins, I860 -1900 p. 27
Witchcraft or Hysteria p. 29
‘Banished from Fairy Land’: Mary Coleridge p. 37
‘Acolyte of Magic’: Emily Dickinson p. 44
‘Obedience and Self-Sacrifice’: Elizabeth Gaskell p. 51
Chapter 2: ‘Uterine Deviants’ and ‘Odd’ Women, 1900 - 1930 p. 67
From Myth to Religion p. 70
‘Making it up as She Went Along’: Margaret Murray p. 77
‘Writing in Invisible Ink’: Edna St Vincent Millay p. 83
‘Unused Virgins and Subterranean Lesbians’:
Sylvia Townsend Warner p. 88
Chapter 3: Witch Burning: Fragmentary Female Bodies,
1930-1950 p. 108
Witchcraft in Male Hands p. 108
‘The Femme Fatale’: Dorothy Hughes p. 114
‘Witch Snippit’s Middle’: Enid Blyton p. 120
‘A Body in Pain’: Sylvia Plath p. 132
Chapter 4: The Witch Must Die: Feminist Revisions of Fairy Tales,
1950-1970 p. 145
Fairy Tale Witches p. 146
‘ Avant La Lettre’: Sylvia Plath p. 157
‘Receive me, Mother’: Olga Broumas: p. 166
‘I Will Eat You Up’: Anne Sexton p. 177
Chapter 5: ‘Lover, Priestess, Wisewoman, Queen’: Witches of the
Second Wave, 1970 - 1990 p. 194
‘Daughter of Bilitis’ : Marion Zimmer Bradley and
Second - Wave Feminism p. 195
vi
‘The Great Goddess’: Mists ofA valon p. 202
‘Beautiful Objects and Magic Mirrors’: Witch Hill p. 210
Witches as Romantic Heroines p. 224
Chapter 6: From Salem to Simnydale: Witchcraft and Popular
Culture, 1990 - 2005 p. 234
Witches, Vampires and Post Feminism p. 235
‘I Wish I Could Bite You’: Buffy the Vampire Slayer p. 246
Witch or Wicca?: Sabrina the Teenage Witch p. 2562^3
‘Flesh is Heretic’: Eavan Boland and the Witches of -
‘High’ Culture p. 2p»
Conclusion: ‘Happily Ever After?’: Harry Potter and the Grotesque
Utopia p.280
Appendix : Witch, Writer or Both? Author Biographies p. 295
Bibliography p. 308
Illustrations
Figure 1: Cosmo Girl (August, 1999)............................................p.267
Figure 2: Movie line (September, 2004).........................................p. 270
Figure 3: Rolling Stone (May, 2004) p. 270
Figure 4: Maxim (September, 2005)...............................................p. 272
v
Those whom the powers wish to destroy, they first make mad
- Euripides
Introduction
In the Beginning, there was Magic: Women, Witches and Female Writers
Macbeth: How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?
What is’t you do?
Witches: A deed without a name.
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth1
Things would have been a lot better for everyone if Macbeth hadn’t
listened to those witches.
- Leslie Ellen Jones, From Witch to Wicca1
What is a Witch?
The answer seems self-evident. Everyone knows that witches wear pointed hats, black
dresses and cloaks; they fly around on broomsticks; their favourite snack is a nice
juicy baby; they are purveyors of potions, curses and general malevolence: the
archetypal fairy tale villains. Above all, they practise magic. A more expansive answer
would include the witches of folklore, in addition to those of fairy tales. These are
women - very rarely men - who live on the margins of society and who are responsible
for the failure of crops, the milklessness of cows and the impotence of men: the fairy
tale witch minus the costume. There are also the accused witches, who may or may
not have had any knowledge of magic or witchcraft, but who were hauled before
1 William Shakespeare, Macbeth (London: Arden, 1998), IV. I. 63 - 65
2 Leslie Ellen Jones, From Witch to Wicca (New York: Cold Spring, 2004), p. 15
1